The Blue Dragon Dojo
by atrfla
Summary: Katie Apicelli moves to California from a small town in Mississippi. Immediately Jack, Jerry and Milton become her first friends at Seaford High. But Katie has a secret- multiple, actually- and she isn't planning to reveal them anytime soon. However, what if she doesn't reveal them so much as they're discovered? Rated T for some mild romance, swearing and some serious fighting.
1. Chapter 1

Jerry slid into his chair just as the bell rang. "Hey, Jack, have you seen the new girl?"

"New girl?" I asked.

"Oh yeah. Catherine or something. I had her in math. She's-"

A girl stepped into the room, with brown hair braided down her back. She hugged her books close and fidgeted uncomfortably. She was unquestionably pretty, but seemed a little more than a lot nervous.

"-_hot_," Jerry finished.

I snorted just like Kim would have.

Mrs. Applebaum stood up. "All right, settle down, settle down. Oh! You must be the new student. Kaitlin, right?"

The girl nodded, sending her braid whipping into a frenzy.

"Why don't you introduce yourself in front of the class?" Mrs. Applebaum suggested as she marked people 'here' and 'absent' on her roll.

"Is there a desk where I can put my stuff down first?" Kaitlin asked.

"Of course- there's one between Milton and Jack. Why don't you sit there," recommended Mrs. Applebaum, checking something off on her list.

Kaitlin dumped her books on the desk between Milton and me. Then she stood up in the front of the classroom, fidgeting like all-get out.

"Name, where you're from, facts about you," listed Mrs. Applebaum without looking up from her clipboard.

"Hi," Kaitlin started out. "I'm Kaitlin Apicelli, but I prefer to be called Kat or Katie, whichever you… like, I guess? I'm from Mississippi, and I… had a lot of friends back there. But I guess I'm what you'd call a _nerd_?" She laughed, looking less nervous than before, but still fretful.

"You can go sit down now," Mrs. Applebaum said, putting away her roll. "Okay, who went to the Whales game over the weekend? Exciting, right?..."

She drew everyone into conversation about the football game, but I was too busy watching the new girl. Her braid was curling over her shoulder, and she was absentmindedly flicking it with her finger while she paged through a book. _Harry Potter_, number four.

Then something flicked onto my desk. It was a note. I opened it.

In cursive, it read, _Whales?_ –_Katie_

A note from the new girl. Okay. I wrote back, _Our football team_ before leaning over and putting the folded piece of paper back on Katie's desk.

She unfolded the note, read it, nodded slowly, then wrote something and passed it back to me.

_Are you Milton or Jack? –Katie_

I smiled slightly, then wrote: _Jack. Milton's the geeky redhead on your other side- he's my friend._

She smiled broadly when she read it and even snorted. Just a tiny bit.


	2. Chapter 2

That day at lunch, Milton, Jerry and I were at our normal table when Jerry gestured up. "Look! It's that new girl. Kaitlin, I think?"

"Katie," I corrected him. "Or Kat."

"Yeah, I saw you passing notes during Health!" Milton exclaimed.

"You work fast, my man," Jerry noted, bumping my shoulder with his.

My face flushed. "She's not- I didn't- she started it! She wanted to know who the Whales were."

"What was she reading?" Milton inquired.

"Harry Potter."

"She didn't know who the _Whales_ are?" asked Jerry incredulously. "But _everyone_ knows who the Whales are!"

"She's _new_," I defended, watching Katie's braid flick hypnotically over her shoulder and back again, over and back, over and back…

"Dude! Earth to Jack!"

I snapped back to look at Jerry. "Hmm? Yeah?"

"Why don't you ask her to sit here?"

"_You_ ask her!"

"Yeah, but she knows _you_," Milton pointed out. "Anyway, if she's a reader, we can- what's your expression, Jerry?"

"Talk geek," Jerry said, watching the mesmerizing braid flick.

"Yeah. About Harry Potter."

I left them blabbing on about the expression "talk geek" and went over to sit next to Katie. She didn't even look up when I sat down next to her, but she murmured, "Hi, Jack."

"How'd you know it was me?"

"I saw you stand up and start to walk over." She calmly flipped the page.

"Oh- oh. Well, the guys and I were wondering if you'd want to sit with us."

"The guys?" She flipped the next page.

"Milton, me and our friend Jerry."

"No girls?"

"There used to be one- long story. Anyway, you looked lonely."

"I am." She flipped another page. "And I'm not used to it at all. Back home I was super popular, always surrounded in friends, you know?"

"Kind of."

"Well, anyway, I'm kind of barricading myself in with my book here."

I took the hint. "Oh. Okay. See you-"

"No, no, I enjoy the company. Sit."

I sat. She flipped the next page.

"You could come sit with us," I offered again. "Milton and Jerry aren't that bad."

She smiled like something was amusing and flipped the following page. Then she stood up. "I could do that."

It looked like she'd already eaten and thrown away her garbage, so she slipped a bookmark neatly between the two pages she was reading, closed her book and stood up. I led her back to our table, expecting a comment from Jerry, but nothing came except "It should be talk_ing_ geek."

"But that implies you're a talking geek!"

"Which I am!"

Katie pulled her legs up onto her chair, sitting criss-cross-applesauce—which I had surely not done since first grade—and opened her book.

"What book?" Milton asked as if he didn't know.

"Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," came the quiet reply.

"And you are…?" Jerry asked as if he didn't know.

"Katie Apicelli."

"Who's your favorite Harry Potter character?" asked Milton.

Katie looked up with a blinding grin and exclaimed, "Hermione!" Then Milton scooted his chair over to sit closer to her as they launched into a rapid-fire conversation about the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. At least, that's how they advertised it on TV.

Jerry and I sat forlornly on the other side of the table, watching them.

"You know," he muttered after a few minutes, "this _almost_ makes me want to be a geek."

And this was _almost_ enough to make me laugh.

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	3. Chapter 3

After lunch, Katie split off from us to head to geometry while Milton, Jerry and I went in the directions of our lockers so we could go to our next classes. After Jerry left, Milton kept chattering on about Katie's apparently extensive knowledge of the Harry Potter books.

"She knows who Romilda Vane is! And Lavender Brown and Mafalda Hopkirk and Irma Pince. _No _one knows about Irma Pince!"

"Calm down," I interrupted. "Don't geek out on me."

"All everyone ever remembers is the Golden Trio and a few of the teachers and Voldemort. Maybe a few others if they're lucky. But to know who _Mafalda Hopkirk_ and _Amelia Bones_ are-"

"Milton!" I interjected. "Shhh. Class is starting."

* * *

That afternoon, I saw Katie starting to walk away from the school, so I ran and caught up with her, trying to act casual. "Hey, Katie."

"Jack," she said by way of greeting. "What a surprise."

"The guys and I were wondering if you wanted to come by our dojo after school."

"Dojo? As in karate?" she asked, looking mildly interested.

"Yeah- it's in the Seaford Mall."

"The Blue Dragon Dojo?"

This caught me off guard. "What?"

"I saw boys walking around earlier with jackets that had a logo for a dojo on them." She paused and then laughed. "Hey, that's funny- _dojo logo_. Anyway, I was pretty sure it was some type of a dragon dojo. So when you mentioned a dojo…"

"Oh, the Black Dragon dojo!" I realized. Then I shivered. "Ugh. No. They're our enemies. Our dojo- it's called the Bobby Wasabi Martial Arts Academy- is much better than them."

She nodded understandingly. But I kept talking. "They're liars and cheaters." Then I laughed. "I like the blue dragon thing, though."

"Are you the sensei?" she asked.

This made me laugh. "What? No, I'm sixteen. Our sensei's Rudy. Walk with me. I'll introduce you." A thought occurred to me. "Maybe you can take karate there! Have you ever done any karate?"

"No, but I've seen it," she said, and then paused. "Well, I have if you count getting in a fight in third grade where I kicked the guy in the head. I think that's some type of karate."

I grinned. "Well, Rudy's a good sensei. And I'm assistant sensei."

"In that case," she said, hurrying to keep up with me, "I might just have to join."


	4. Chapter 4

"Wow," Katie said, looking around. "This place is pretty impressive."

Rudy appeared behind us and said, sounding cross, "Who is this…"

Katie turned around and smiled. "This is your sensei?"

"_Incredibly pretty_ girl you've brought in?" Rudy finished.

"Yeah," I said. "This is Rudy. Rudy, Katie. She's interested in joining the dojo."

"Well, I didn't say that explicitly," Katie tried to explain. "I used to be a gymnast and dancer, but I couldn't find a dance studio around here…"

"You were a dancer?" Milton said, appearing with Jerry behind him, both in their gis.

"Is something wrong?" Katie replied.

"But you _read!_" Milton protested.

"You're being stereotypical."

"True, dude," I agreed. Jerry nodded.

"Well- but _no one_ here dances _and_ reads," Milton said.

"Guess I'm no one, then," Katie shot back matter-of-factly.

"Well, all we need is consent from your parents, and, of course, a payment of…" Rudy led Katie into his office, talking about the fees for classes, and Jerry turned to me.

"So, guess you're throwing away that picture of Kim with the area around her mouth-"

"What?" I interrupted. "No! She was one of my best friends."

"Yeah, but you said yourself that you have a type and that's cute girls who read," he pointed out nonchalantly.

"That was a long time ago," I protested.

"Still," Milton said, "if what I'm hearing's true, she's perfect."

"Perfect for _what_?"

"For you to date."

"I'm- I'm not _dating _anyone!" I insisted.

Jerry raised his eyebrows.

"I'm _not_!" I defended. "I'm- I'm still in love with Kim."

With that, they left me alone, fighting between the girl I'd always dreamed of and the one who still starred in my dreams.

* * *

**Come on, no reviews? I know at least one person has favorited this- if you're reading and you've favorited this story, please, please, please, please, _please_ review. ~atrfla**


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